ONE of the masterminds behind a huge dope dynasty has had his prison sentence slashed.

John Graham was one of eight dealers jailed for a total of 33 years earlier this year for their roles in a huge cannabis conspiracy, aiming to flood the streets with more than £3m of the class B drug.

But the 54-year-old, of Long House Farm in Callerton, Newcastle, has had his six-year term cut to just four and a half after top judges decided his original sentence had been too harsh.

Graham and his accomplice David Jeavons took on ‘managerial’ roles, in the drugs plot, buying equipment to help cultivate the cannabis.

But the pair and six others were snared through an undercover police operation.

Officers from Northumbria Police kept the gang under surveillance for almost a year after they saw an exchange of drugs at a farm house in Callerton.

Undercover officers set out to infiltrate the cannabis farmers, who had contacts as far away as London.

Drugs with an estimated street value of £3m were recovered – including more than 2,000 cannabis plants valued at £610,560 from one unit on Chainbridge Industrial Estate, Blaydon.

Plants were also recovered at Hawks Road, Gateshead, and at farms in Middlesbrough and Callerton.

All the drugs farms were professional set-ups and maintained by teams of Vietnamese illegal immigrants.

Jeavons, 45, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to nine years for conspiracy to supply cannabis, while Graham got six for the same offence.

Thomas James Beattie, 24, of Priory Green, Byker, was sentenced to six years for conspiracy to supply cannabis and actual bodily harm.

David Joseph Swann, 25, of Brinkburn Street, Byker, and Michael Hudson, 25, of Grafton Close, Byker, were each sentenced to three years for conspiracy to supply cannabis.

However, Graham yesterday challenged his sentence at London’s Court of Appeal.

His lawyers argued that he could have a legitimate sense of grievance that Jeavons was only jailed for three more years than him despite not pleading guilty and having a criminal past, having been jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2004 for importing cannabis.

Graham’s lawyers also argued that he was of good character and that his difficult family circumstances, his wife having brain damage - justified a lesser sentence.

Mr Justice Blake, who heard the appeal with Lord Justice Laws and Judge Richard Brown, said: “To treat both organisers the same would leave a legitimate sense of grievance.

“To this extent, we propose to quash the sentence of six years imposed upon this appellant and substitute for it a sentence of four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment.

“The family circumstances were noted by the judge and do not, in our judgment, justify a further reduction in this sentence for what was undoubtedly a very serious and well-organised offence.”